If you're waiting for John Tortorella to erupt, you may have quite the wait. He's been calm, direct and straight forward in teaching and guiding the Vancouver Canucks. (Getty Images via National Hockey League).

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The jaw wasn’t jutting out. The lips weren’t forming a pout. And there was nothing to suggest he was about to shout.

John Tortorella stood there and methodically reviewed a game in which the Vancouver Canucks coach didn’t get the pace, push, presence and consistency he demands on a nightly basis. The tactician and teacher didn’t turn into a tormentor after a 3-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. He wasn’t silenced or sedated. He was honest and refreshingly frank as he calmly passed out failing grades for too much perimeter play.

That’s not surprising. At the 10-game mark, it’s as much about understanding the new system of an aggressive forecheck and zone defence as execution. And if you’re waiting for the fuse to be lit for an explosion of utter frustration — perhaps Tuesday against the New York Islanders — come to understand that it probably won’t happen on this revealing seven-game road trip.

Tortorella doesn’t like outside distractions like cell phones that go off as he’s speaking, the twits on Twitter or the tardiness of media not being at attention and attentive when he’s about to make his podium addresses. And he reveals very little on game day. Post-game? That’s different. Sunday was typical.

“I thought we came out of our end well, but not enough in the areas to score goals except on the one power-play goal we scored,” Tortorella said of being 2-1-1 on this trip and 5-4-1 overall. “Consistency is a mentality as far as the grind and the shots were very deceiving as far as how we played.”

If consistency in the messages is matched by consistency on the ice, then there’s reason to believe the Canucks can return to the battle level they showed Saturday in an inspiring 4-3 shootout loss in Pittsburgh. And that’s really what it’s all about for Tortorella. Trying to coax the most out of the league’s 10th oldest team — one that averages 28.1 years and is one of just three without a roster player 21 or under — is tougher than just riding the horses. It’s about reaching players like Henrik and Daniel Sedin on another level and getting them to embrace more ice time, penalty killing and shot blocking. It’s about finding any down time to rest and recover by cancelling practices and even finding the crucial moment in a game to call a time-out and refresh his players. All of this under the intense focus of the Vancouver media microscope.

“He’s finding out what it’s like to coach a Canadian team,” said Canucks general manager Mike Gillis. “There are significant differences and the amount we have to travel and be successful is new to him. He’s got a good sense of humour about it all and is just a lot quieter and calm. He’s a very good coach and doing things behind the bench through the course of a game to change momentum — and to keep momentum.

“For me, from the time we hired John, it’s been an invigorating exercise with a fresh approach in how the game is thought about. It was a difficult transition to go through, but it’s also one that I’ve enjoyed after the fact. I really like the way he’s handling the team.”

That said, the power play is ranked 27th and ended an 0-for-15 drought Sunday that dates back to the second game of the season. Daniel Sedin has one goal in his last seven games, Ryan Kesler has two his last eight and both David Booth and Jannik Hansen have one goal in their last eight games. Then again, the penalty kill is ranked first, Brad Richardson has a league-leading two shorthanded goals in the last three games and Henirk Sedin was tied for second in scoring heading into league play Monday with a dozen points. He was also tied for the NHL lead with 10 assists. Some GMs would find a need to meddle with a club hovering around the .500 mark. Not Gillis.

“We talk about all kinds of stuff, but he makes the decisions of who’s in the lineup and who’s playing with whom,” he said. I’m not the kind of guy who’s going to go down and tell him what he should do. He has won a Stanley Cup.”

From splitting up the Sedins, loading up the top line with the Sedins and Kesler, juggling his top six on the fly or challenging his best players, Tortorella doesn’t give them an easy outs. Take the Sedins split.

“I think they want it,” he stressed. “They’re smart enough to know they were being checked pretty closely and I wasn’t going to take them off because the opposing team was putting its checking line out there. They’ve got to find a way to get through it.”

And so does Tortorella. The Canucks don’t have significant roster depth. Losing Jordan Schroeder to a suspected fractured left ankle Saturday — the same one he injured Sept. 21 when blocking a shot and missed nine games — means Richardson has to centre the third line. But when Daniel Sedin skates into the slot and doesn’t shoot or Kesler takes too long to release his wrist shot, it only means Tortorella has to push and prod his players harder and hope they can sustain it. Tuesday will be five games in eight days.

“He’s been good and straight forward,” Daniel said of the coach. “You can do that in a lot of ways and you’ve got to be able to handle it because he wants you to get better.”

OF NOTE — Former Canucks first-round draft pick Michael Grabner won’t be playing Tuesday. He’s suspended two games for his hit to the head of Carolina forward Nathan Gerbe on Saturday.

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